Elk tests, brake testing, extreme driving situations – car manufacturers test all that and more on large “dynamics areas”. Such areas need to have a defined cross-section in order to enable the correct evaluation of test results.

German car manufacturer VW owns a 250,000 m² large testing ground in the vicinity of Wolfsburg, the surface course of which no longer met the high demands placed on it. Rehabilitation involved the use of two W 2200 high-performance milling machines from Wirtgen fitted with 3D control system, which removed the surface and binder courses in two machine passes. In the process, they ¬created a surface having a new, defined horizontal ¬position, and thus ideal conditions for the subsequent - paving of a new asphalt course.

Remodel terrain using 3D control

The milling job was a typical application of the 3D control system as the existing surface deviated from the specified plane in all three directions. Rehabilitation using a 3D control system was the only method that would allow reshaping of the surface at the same time.

It works independently of references on the ground, using a digital terrain model instead as specified default value for the milling depth. In that way, areas can be re-defined and re-created independent of their existing horizontal position and slope. Wirtgen milling machines fitted with 3D control produce the desired accuracy in the millimetre range. Requirements on the testing ground near Wolfsburg were extremely high: the horizontal position of the milled surface was allowed to deviate from the specified level by a maximum of ± 2 mm.

SAT Straßensanierung GmbH was awarded the contract for carrying out this highly demanding job. “For the job in Wolfsburg, two of our W 2200 cold milling machines, which usually work with wire-rope or ultrasonic sensors, were converted to the 3D control system,“ says site manageress Aleksandra Rompa, explaining the setup of the machines. This can be done because the hardware and software of the Wirtgen levelling systems include a standard pre-installation for the 3D systems of common manufacturers.

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